True Superhero
by wild horse
Summary: Tails feels left out when Sonic leaves him behind on yet another mission, and is desperate to prove himself to Sonic. However, when Sonic goes missing, Tails must team up with unlikely ally Knuckles if he is to save his friend, and Mobius.


Title: True Superhero

Summary: Tails feels left out when Sonic leaves him behind on yet another mission, and he's desperate to prove he's just as good as Sonic.  However, when Sonic goes missing, Tails must team up with unlikely ally Knuckles the Echidna if he is to save his friend, and all of Mobius.

Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and all related stuff belong to SEGA and DIC.

A/n: I've always wondered about playing tails and knuckles in the video games… so…anyway, Knuckles isn't on 'best friend' or even 'good friend' terms here with tails or sonic.  Badniks = robotnik's evil robot creatures

Chapter 1:

"Tails!" Sonic was practically yelling at the top of his voice, "Tails, where are you?"

Silence.

"Tails, come on, I'm going to check out a few of the zones, where are you?"

Still silence.

Sonic tapped his feet impatiently.  "If you don't wanna come, I'm leaving right now…"

Silence, yet again.

Much as he was beginning to feel really cross with the orange fox, Sonic had to admit that he hadn't been paying much attention to his sidekick recently.  _Those missions were really dangerous ones, I couldn't risk him getting hurt.  That, Sonic guessed, sounded like a pretty reasonable excuse.  But it was still an excuse.  Tails was probably upset that Sonic hadn't brought him along, and had gone off on his own._

_Well, I guess I could do without him…_Sonic thought to himself, but he knew he would miss the fox's comical antics and light-hearted remarks, and his keen sense of smell.  Tails could smell danger a mile off, and that had come in useful more than once.

After scribbling a hasty note to his sidekick and sticking it onto a tree, Sonic turned and sped off into the distance.

He didn't see a small, metal sphere emerge from among the tree's leaves, hovering a few metres above the ground, watching and recording as he left the zone.

The scrambled electrical signal that it sent off: "The hedgehog is on his way."

Tails was walking through the forest, kicking a pebble as he went along.

_Perhaps Sonic thinks I'm not good enough…_he thought to himself.  Lately, Sonic had told him to stay home while he went off alone on exciting missions.  Tails hated being left behind; he'd hated it even as a kid, when he had obviously been too young to follow Sonic.  Still, Sonic was only about five years older than him.

The idea presented itself to him suddenly.  If only there was some way he could show Sonic, and himself, that he _was _good enough.  The fox's twin tails twitched excitedly.  A real mission of his own.

_Yeah, that'll show him!  _By now, Tails was nearly bouncing up and down in anticipation.  

The problem was, that now, he didn't know what he _could do to impress Sonic._

_Darn it!  _The fox thought.  His thoughts wandered off a little, _I wonder what Sonic's doing now…_

It was a bright, clear, sunny day.  Except for a few clouds, the sky was a continuous blanket of bright blue.  An awesome day.

Near the edge of the Emerald Hill Zone, on the soft, green grass lay a blue hedgehog, sprawled out on the ground.

An odd-looking badnik on wheels rolled up to the unconscious hedgehog, holding a pair of handcuffs in what could have been called its arms.  It bent down, fastened the 'cuffs neatly around the hedgehog's paws, then picked the creature up and trundled off.

"Huh?  What's that?" Tails muttered softly as he turned towards the sound.  He saw a shiny metallic object moving along the distant hill.  Breaking into a sprint, the agile fox moved nearer for a better look.

"Sonic?" the badnik swivelled it's metallic head as its hearing sensors picked up the fox's voice.  "Sonic, that you?"

A furry orange fox came into view of its visual sensors.  Not recognising the fox as the thing it was supposed to bring back alive to Doctor Robotnik, the badnik raised one of its arms and fired a bolt of stun energy at the fox.

"Yargh!" Tails yelled in shock and fright, jumping into the air at the same time to escape the energy bolt.  "Sonic!" he screamed, "Sonic, wake up!"

No response.

Tails uttered a string of words that would have earned him a solid scolding from Sonic, if the hedgehog were conscious.  _Come on, I can take this stupid badnik on.  _Gritting his teeth, the fox tucked his knees in close to his chest, rolling himself up into a compact, spinning ball, just as he'd seen Sonic do.  Aiming straight for the badnik's head, Tails prepared himself for the shock of colliding with the solid metal.

It never came.  

One moment, he was flying through the air, the next, he was lying crumpled on the floor as another bolt of energy hit him.

"Oops," the fox muttered, stunned.  "Sonic…Sonic, wake up," but it was only slightly more than a whisper.  The badnik was moving off into the distance, leaving the fox lying helplessly on the ground.

Tails whimpered a little, afraid.  If he'd been better, faster, he might've saved Sonic.  Now he was confused, he didn't know what he should do.  His head was starting to hurt, the world around him starting to turn blur and fuzzy.  

And then it faded to black.

TBC….

a/n: what will happen to sonic and tails?  Where does knux come in it?  Well, read the next chapter (coming up soon) to figure out.  :)  reviews…any?  Please?


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